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Police close Susan Powell case

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (AP) — A police agency is closing the active investigation of the disappearance of Susan Powell, a Utah mother whose now-dead husband was a prime suspect, citing a lack of leads. West

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (AP) — Citing a lack of leads, a police agency said Monday that it is closing the active investigation of the disappearance of Susan Powell, a Utah mother whose now-dead husband was a prime suspect

West Valley police also called the news conference to offer new details in the case that's been largely kept under wraps since Powell vanished in 2009.

The announcement came after police spent two days searching in rural Oregon last week for any trace of Powell's body. When that search turned unsuccessful, West Valley City Manager Wayne Pyle told The Associated Press that police were at the end of the investigation without any active leads and might close the case. Police have said they would reopen the case if they get new information.

Susan Powell was reported missing more than three years ago after failing to show up for work. Her husband, Josh, maintained his innocence and said he had taken the couple's young boys on a midnight camping trip in freezing temperatures the night she was last seen.

Josh Powell eventually returned to the couple's hometown of Puyallup, Wash., where he got caught up in a battle with Susan Powell's parents for custody of the boys, 7-year-old Charlie and 5-year-old Braden.

On Feb. 15, 2012, he locked a social worker out of a rental home at the start of a supervised visit, attacked the boys with a hatchet and set the house afire. All three were killed in the blaze.

Days earlier, a court had ordered Josh Powell to undergo an intensive psychosexual evaluation in the custody dispute.

Josh Powell was never charged in his wife's disappearance, but unsealed documents say authorities found Susan Powell's blood on a floor next to a sofa that appeared to have been recently cleaned, with two fans set up to blow on it. Investigators also found life insurance policies on Susan Powell and determined that Josh Powell had filed paperwork to withdraw her retirement account money about 10 days after her disappearance.